Happy 2012 International Mens Day!

A while back I posted an announcement about the 2012 International Men's Day - Jason Thompson (the IMD coordinator for Australia) kindly alerted me to the fact that I had posted the wrong information:

the IMD site you quoted belongs to a man who has been disendorsed from the global IMD community due to fraudulent fundraising and other activity. Moreover, his yearly theme that you have promoted is not the one endorsed by IMD Founder Dr. Jerome Teelucksingh.

The real site is here.

Here is this year's theme:

Helping Men and Boys live longer, happier, healthier lives

In the run up to International Men's Day 2012 (Monday 19th November) we're asking supporters of the day to focus on five key challenges that will help us improve the health and wellbeing of men and boys all over the world. 

Some of the universal health issues that men and boys in all countries around the globe face include lower life expectancy, difficulty accessing mental health services, educational disadvantages, lack of male role models and tolerance of violence against men and boys. 

To help us focus our collective minds upon helping men and boys live longer, happier, healthier lives, the five key challenges that the International Men's Day team is inviting men and women all over the world to address are shown below.

Addressing each of these challenges will help us to help men and boys all over the world to live longer, happier, healthier lives, which is why we are inviting supporters of International Men's Day to join us in taking on one of more of these five key challenges in 2012.

1. IMPROVING MEN'S LIFE EXPECTANCY From the moment a boy is born he can expect to live a shorter life than his female counterparts in all but four countries on the planet. There is also a huge gap in life expectancy between rich and poor countries with men in Mozambique reaching an average age of 38 while in Iceland, Israel and Switzerland men live twice as long until the age of 80. There are also huge gaps in life expectancy within countries, with men born in the poorest parts of the United Kingdom, for example, dying 10 years sooner than their fellow countrymen in the wealthiest parts of the capital city. Boys are not genetically programmed to die young so our first challenge this International Men's Day is to ask countries taking part to consider how we can help all men and boys live longer, happier, healthier lives – no matter how poor they are and no matter what country they are born in.

2. HELPING MEN GET HELP Every year poor mental health drives over three quarters of a million people to commit suicide – and around two thirds of them are males. Men and boys all over the world can find it more difficult to access help for mental and emotional health problems and most prison populations include a significant number of men with mental health issues. This International Men's Day we are asking participating countries to consider how we can help more men and boys get the help and support they need and to take action on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of men who will take their own lives this year.

3. IMPROVING BOYS' EDUCATION: Poor education is linked to poor health outcomes later in life so improving boys' education will also help men and boys live longer, happier healthier lives. This International Men's Day we are asking people to explore why boys in richer countries are under performing girls and also less likely to be in education, and why tens of millions of boys in poorer countries are still not completing a primary education? How can we address truancy and poor literacy rates which leave boys prone to adult unemployment, substance abuse, obesity, depression and poverty? What action can we take to focus on boys' education in a way that closes the gap between girls and boys, addresses the gaps between rich boys and poor boys, and helps us to improve the long-term health and wellbeing of all men and boys.

4. TACKLING TOLERANCE OF VIOLENCE AGAINST MEN AND BOYS: Violence has a major impact on men's health all over the world. Every year over half a million people die from violence and 83% of them are men and boys. A similar proportion of the global burden of disease (ill-health, disability or early death) from violence is borne by boys and men. Yet while there are now a number of deserved global campaigns to tackle violence against women and girls, there are no such campaigns to help men and boys. Why are we so tolerant of violence and abuse against boys and men and why do we still tolerate a world where we send boys and young men to fight wars on behalf of the adults in power? This International Men's Day we are asking for actions we can take to help men and boys live in a less violent world and challenge our collective global tolerance of violence against men and boys.

5. PROMOTING FATHERS AND MALE ROLE MODELS: Fathers and male role models play a vital role in helping boys make a healthy, happy and positive transition from boyhood to manhood. How can we give boys a right to family life that gives them an equal opportunity to know and experience both their father and mother and ensure that their role as a future father is equal to girls' role as future mothers? Giving boys a range of positive life choices in terms of family, work and leisure can help us reduce the number of boys whose choices are limited and end up poor, illiterate, unemployed, homeless, imprisoned and isolated. This International Men's Day we are asking what actions we can take to give all boys access to a variety of male role models and ensure their country's laws and practices give them an equal right to fatherhood, with all the support they need to be the best fathers they can be.

Here are some of the key issues men and boys face around the world.

Issues and Statistics 

Based on UK data

Death and suicide
From the moment they are born boys are more likely die before the age of one. By the time they reach 16 boys are two-and-half times more likely to die before they reach 25 years old. They are twice as likely to die before reaching retirement age. More than 95% of the 200 people killed in the workplace every year are men. More than 10 men a day kill themselves with men being 3 times more likely to commit suicide. Men are more likely to killed by strangers and killed by someone they know accounting for more than 71% of all murders. Boys who are excluded from school are 19 times more likely to commit suicide.

Family

They are also more likely to be rejected by or removed from their families, being 25% more likely to be taken into care and 25% less likely to taken out of care by being adopted.

Education and employment

Boys are twice as likely to have a Special Educational Need and twice as likely to have literacy problems. They are four times more likely to be excluded from school. They are also more likely to experience youth unemployment, less likely to go to university and and those that do are 50% more likely to be unemployed when they graduate. Throughout life men are more likely to experience being unemployed and looking for work. Boys with literacy problems are two to three times more likely to end up being heavy smokers, drinkers and unemployed.

Fatherlessness

1.5 million boys are separated from their fathers and half a million have no contact with their dad. The lack of a father (and lack of male role models more generally) impacts boys in different ways to girls who have a wealth of female role models including the 85% of primary school teachers who are female. Boys who are fatherless, illiterate and end up in care are more likely to be excluded from school. Boys from fatherless families are nine times more likely to commit crime. Approx. 9 out of 10 fathers applying for contact or residence of their children (post family breakup) will fail to achieve it in the family courts, typically after 2 years 80% of fathers will no longer see their children.

Crime

Men are twice as likely to be victims of violent crime and are more likely to killed by strangers and killed by someone they know accounting for more than 71% of all murders. Boys who are fatherless, in care, excluded from school and have literacy problems are more likely to end up in prison. 95% of the country’s 100,000 prisoners male. If this were down to men naturally being disposed towards criminal activity, why then do we not see all classes of society equally represented in prison?

Social Exclusion 

Men are 4 times more likely to become an alcoholic, three times more likely to be dependent on cannabis and account for 9 out of 10 rough sleepers.

International Men's Day - November 19, 2012

International Men's Day is Monday, November 19, 2012. The theme for this year is positive male role models. 

Our theme in 2012: Positive Male Role Models

Every year a new theme is chosen for International Men's Day. This year the theme is "Positive Male role models". M C Hammer said, “I make an active effort to remain a positive role model to kids. They need people to show them there’s another way.” M C Hammer is right, and that is why we encourage you to celebrate International Men's Day and raise funds for your favourite men’s or children's charity of your choice at the same time.

There is a desperate need around the world for more positive male role models. Many boys today do not know what it means to be a man because they don’t have a man in their lives. Many children will go to bed tonight without saying goodnight to their father because he just isn’t there.
 
Nearly one-fourth of America’s children live in mother-only families. Of the children living with their mothers, 35 percent never see their father and 24 percent see their fathers less than once a month. This is the reality across the western world to a lesser or greater extent. Unfortunately this trend is beginning to occur in less developed countries as well. 

These children live with a woman and more than likely, they are taught by a woman at school. Where do they see and interact with positive male role models? Or, if they are a boy how do they learn what it means to be a man? Television? Movies? On the street?

Even in homes where the father is present research shows that the average father spends less than 10 minutes a day one-on-one with his child. These statistics tend to be more relevant in western countries but they are sadly becoming all the more relevant in other countries as well. We are living in a world where emotional and spiritual fatherlessness is becoming the norm. Many of today’s fathers did not have positive role models to show them what it means to be a father to a child, so they are not there to show their children what it means to be a father.

No matter how great a mother is, she cannot replace what a father provides to a child. Irrefutable research shows that mothers typically are nurturing, soft, gentle, comforting, protective and emotional. Fathers tend to be challenging, prodding, loud, playful, encourage risk taking, and physical. Children need a balance of protection and reasonable risk taking. If a positive male role model is not present in the life of a child there is a void in this area. Children who live in this environment are more likely to be involved in criminal activity, premarital sexual activity, do poorer in school and participate in unhealthy activities.

Studies have shown that involvement of a father or a positive male role model in the lives of children has profound effects on them. Father-child interaction promotes a child’s physical well being, perceptual ability and competency for relating with others. These children also demonstrate greater ability to take initiative and evidence self-control.

How can you make a positive difference for these children?

• If you are a positive male role model you can Celebrate International Mens Day and involve yourself in the lives of children and young people in your community who can benefit from your influence.
• If you are a mother you can encourage the involvement of positive male role models in the life of your child.
• If you are a non-custodial dad you can make the effort to visit with your child more often and be intentional about teaching them important life lessons.
• If you are an educator you can encourage fathers to take on a more active role in the classroom.
• If you are working in government you can encourage the celebration of International Mens Day and the development of positive male role models in your country and in your community.
• If you are a Non Profit Organisation working in the community you can celebrate International Mens Day and promote positive male role models.
• If you are a faith-based institution you can provide programs that bring fathers together with their children and also encourage male role models to be involved with children in their sphere of influence.
• If you are a leader in your business encourage your employees to be involved in community efforts such as mentoring groups in the country in which you live i.e. , Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Big Brothers-Big Sisters, youth groups, Boys Club or sports clubs.

Every child needs someone who is absolutely committed to their success in life. It is up to us to make sure they have that person.

One more thing. If everyone that celebrated International Men's Day gave $10 to charity, we could raise hundreds of millions of dollars a year to help our children and provide more positive male role models. Together we can make a difference.

Today Is International Men’s Day

This is my first year of celebrating (is that the right word?) International Men’s Day. It's an interesting notion to me, for a variety of reasons. Here is an article from Men's News Daily.

Celebrating International Men’s Day- 2009

Thursday, November 19, 2009

By Paul Elam

Today we mark another International Men’s Day, a celebration of men that began in 1999 in Trinidad and Tobago and has since spanned the globe. This is not just a celebration, it is a day to take pause for a moment and consider where we have come from as men, and where we have yet to go.

And for the first time since I heard the words “Men’s Rights,” there is a good deal to consider and for which to celebrate.

In roughly the past year we have seen two major court decisions in the states of California and West Virginia that made the first cuts into the corruption and destructiveness of a domestic violence industry run amok. We have witnessed the almost incomprehensible event of a fathers rights march in Mexico City. The men in the country of India have risen up and made their presence known with clarity and power. Dads on the Air, a pro male radio program has become the most successful community radio program in Australia. And we have seen a prolific rise in internet activity and activism related to men’s issues, including mensnewsdaily.com® celebrating eight years of carrying the message to the world at large.

In short, there are now some signs of momentum in this sometimes stuttering movement. And I have to say it looks right good on us.

Clearly we have a long way to go. There is still too many people who get confused when hearing the word “misandry,“ and men are still discriminated against harshly in nearly every aspect of their lives. But every journey starts with the first step, and this looks to be the time in our lives that we can actually begin walking with a purpose.

So let’s take some time today to honor and appreciate men; just a moment to set aside the troubles in this world and admire the miracles of every day life brought to us by our fathers, sons and brothers.

Those miracles can be seen in the roofs over our heads, the cars we drive, the planes that take us across the world in hours, the medicines that heal us, the computers and cell phones we can’t seem to live without and too many other things to mention without writing a book.

And let’s be sure to thank the men who walk into burning buildings to save our lives and the lives of our children, and the men who patrol our cities in the dead of night and those that stand against a wall for us 10,000 miles away. Yes, women do some of these things, but it remains overwhelmingly our men who brave smoke, flame and bullets to keep us safe and secure. They have earned their recognition without the patronizing and perfunctory inclusion of others.

Let us also not forget this day the men who suffer; who languish in prisons over false charges; who have been stripped of children and property and civil rights by corrupt forces in our midst and who endure the ongoing hatred against them for nothing more than being a man.

Let us honor the men who have given us everything and who now find themselves being taken forcibly for more.

And above all else, let us work together toward the goal of justice for everyone, knowing that justice for anyone is not possible till it is a given in every mans life.

Paul Elam is the Editor-in-Chief for Men’s News Daily and the publisher of A Voice for Men.

There's also this funny little video about the event:



So, men, what issues are on your mind today? How do you feel about where masculinity is heading in this culture and/or worldwide? Are we evolving to newer and better ways of being men, or are still trapped in stereotypes that limit us as human beings? Please leave your thoughts in the comments.

Tags: masculinity, International Men's Day, culture, personal growth, Men's News Daily, Paul Elam, 2009, misandry